My situation is something I cannot find anything about anywhere online and I find that odd. I have made the distinction after much self-experimentation and journaling of activities over time that when I have acid reflux come up my left ear experiences a burning sensation. I can adjust the level of burning or pass it fast by blowing out of my mouth as fast as I can when the reflux hits and comes up. I theorize that there is some kind of open passageway from my throat to my left ear (the eustachian tube perhaps?) that is allowing the acid reflux to flow up into it causing my left ear to burn. There are also some other interesting factors here to consider.

After my teeth had settled for years as an adult I returned to the orthodontist for recorrection of my teeth. The rear most molar on the upper left of my jaw was impacted coming in a downward slant pushing against the side of the tooth in front of it. The orthodontics fixed this and the tooth eventually came down about 80&#37; of the way, but I am wondering if after all those years in its impacted position after it came down what filled the void that it moved from? Could there be an opening from my jaw in that area letting acid reflux into my left ear?

Other more likely scenario. I know for a fact for years I have blown my nose extremely too hard (been told so by specialist; I have since corrected it, but may be too late). One time I was very sick and could not get better so I started journaling my activities while I was sick to find out what I was doing that may be keeping me from getting better and what was causing my ear pain to come back from time to time. Apparently the ear pain was caused just as soon as or a few moments after I'd blow my nose and with my chronic sinusitus I had to blow it very hard. In any case I opted to stop blowing my nose altogether in order to get well and instead opted for q-tip cleaning and irrigation of the nose to get the junk out. Well as soon as I stopped blowing my nose the pain subsided and I started getting well after I hadn't been making any progress for a full 2 weeks. I do notice that when I blow my nose even today and even though I do so much less forceful I experience the pain in my left ear. I can also wiggle my jaw from side to side at times to alleviate the pain but it only helps mildly so. I have had a few ear infections in my life and mostly in the left ear. The specialist says that the eardrum on that side is thinner than the right side and even shows some scar tissue and subsequently I ALWAYS experience much more sensitivity in my left ear than my right so much so that I sometimes need an ear plug for my left ear only at certain events or when people are listening to TV at a certain level.

To give you an idea of how hard I used to blow my nose up until about 4 years ago (I am 31 now) because no one ever really told or showed me different and I never felt I was doing self-damage I have floaters in my right eye which I believe are from blowing my nose too hard all those years as well as air will leak out of my right eye inner corner when I blow my nose if I do not squint. LOL - From all that I'm describing it sounds like I'm in really bad shape, but I live with this stuff daily and I manage it as if it is normal everyday routine stuff though of course it would be great if I didn't have to. The acid reflux is daily, food seems to come up at times, but I am also not sure if the food ever went down (some parts of it) because I have a constant nasal drip that I believe is the cause of the refluxing.... in that my esophagus thinks that the mucus is actually food constantly draining down and I do mean constantly. Not only do I believe the mucus is keeping parts of food from going down, but I believe the mucus itself gets stuck (stretching from my top throat to stomach) in my air/throat passageway often which always causes me to choke if I'm not careful and causes the esophagus/stomach opening to remain open for much longer periods during each day/night than when I'm actually eating or drinking. These are all theories from observing myself very closely over time. I actually believe if I could get rid of my sinus drainage I would be rid of my acid reflux cause it seems that when I am clear sinus-wise (which is not often) that my reflux is nearly gone.

In any case aside from what I've written here I would like to know if there is anyone else who has burning ear sensations when they reflux and if there is anything that can be done about it? Is it possible my eustachian tube is lodged open all the time? Is it possible my left eardrum is slightly "Open" all the time allowing air pressure to never get right in my eardrum hence allowing reflux to go UP the eustachian tube when it burps up? I know all of this may seem and sound crazy, but I assure you I'm not making blind statements without true patterns that I've learned from by carefully observing myself. Thank you for reading and for your time.

I am not going to be much help on the burning ear question. I hope someone will read your post who can answer some of your questions.

The ear symptom I have from the LPR is ear noise. Sometimes it is very loud and other times it is not so bad. I have to avoid bending over or over exerting myself or I can expect to have a sore throat and ear noise. In the worst of times, I feel a fullness much like that from a head cold.

Do you have any pain in your jaw joint on the left side? You mentioned some dental issues which led me to believe you may be experiencing some TMJ disorder. There's a discussion board on here just for this disorder.

If you have dental problems or a bite occlusion these joints can often become inflammed and this can cause referred pain around the area, in the ear or even like a migraine.

I myself have tmj disorder and a major occlusion as well as acid reflux . My jaw joints hurt daily and I often have burning, itching, stuffiness and sound sensitivity in both ears along with daily migraines. It's rough to live with so I know what your going through.

1000mg of Acetaminophen often helps with my ear pain, you might try it. If that doesn't work, try 800mg of ibuprofen. If either of these help, I would suspect referred pain from the inflammation of your tempomandibular joint.

It could also be that you have damaged your euchastachian tube, a condition called patulent euchastachian tube dysfunction. That's on the inner ear disorder board. But if your not experiencing any stuffiness I would doubt this.

Thank to you both for replying. It seems this issue overlaps at least two other categories. I'm beginning to see why people with TMJ problems often have trouble getting a proper diagnosis as I've read in the past.

I'm not sure I am experiencing a stuffiness/fullness. It is just this burning sensation in my left ear and I'm just worried that this constant pain or irritation could lead to something bad one day from always being in an inflamed state on a daily basis? I mean could this lead to cancer or something? I know that might sound ODD, but I just can't believe that this constant burning in that ear everyday can be a good thing. So thats really what I'm mostly concerned with, if this will cause growth of some new problems later on.

I am not sure what occlusion is, but I do know that my bottom jaw teeth are forcing forward jamming together which has caused one of my front lower teeth to slip sideways under the pressure. My teeth were straight right after my orthodontic work, but of course I haven't worn my retainers as I should've been and this is in part because my jaw did not feel normal in the new position the orthodontics pushed it into. As my teeth have been allowed again to push forward and the tooth in front turned sideways it has over time felt more normal.

Also I haven't mentioned that my right ear will feel a poking/fullness feeling when I fully clinch/close my jaw shut and this is definitely consistent every time. I must keep my jaw at a slightly open position all the time in order to not experience this feeling in my right ear. Again all of this didn't take place until after the orthodontics. I am wondering if because the orthodontics were done at an adult age if perhaps things moved that normally otherwise would've rerouted when I was in my "growing years" as opposed to set in place in adulthood. I want to wear my retainers, but it just doesn't feel right and never did even when I first started with them.

Tonight just before I typed this up I had acid reflux. I keep some TUMS Extra Strength (with NO SUGAR in them; cause sugar causes acid reflux with me) on hand and I chewed them and the effect is almost immediate that my headache and burning in my left ear go away. This is the main reason why I believe that my eustachian tube on the left side my be dysfunctioning, open when it shouldn't be, or obstructed in some way causing it to be open when it shouldn't be.

Also, blowing my nose still consistently produces the burning pain in my left ear as well. This is what has led me to think that perhaps I've ruined something in my left ear area from blowing my nose too hard over the years. It is just odd that the MRI I had 2 years ago when I was experiencing this problem and going at it via doctor visits came back with positive results and nothing strange at all showed up.... at least to the eyes that saw it that is.

Oh and the pain isn't consistent. It only happens during reflux or during blowing of the nose even moderately too hard. It happens at other times too and I've been trying to notice what is going on when it happens IE: jaw in certain position or facial muscles moving a certain way etc....

Well I have sharp pains in my right ear and its red and swollen inside. Dr thinks its from acid going up into my sinuses. My sinuses are a mess right now to from all this acid. It really causes alot of problems.

The Following User Says Thank You to jbsim For This Useful Post:pepsifreak1 (03-25-2012)

Hello, I to have really bad burning in both my ear's deep inside, when I get acid reflux, and my throat burns also, this doesn't happen everytime I have reflux, but has happened many times..it is so strange. I don't have any teeth or ear problems.

For the first time last night when I had a bad reflux incident after going to bed, I jumped up and it had come up into my throat, and felt like it travel to my ears. It hurt so bad, I know what you are talking about. I didn't know what to do, and my husband didn't either. It just had to subside on it's own. I was scared to death.

I also have burning in the throat & ears. I am going to see an ENT oct. 1st. Just by reading on this board, I think I have reflux real bad. I have no heartburn & it is my tonsil area that hurts. Could this be what they call silent reflux? It is very annoying & I don,t know what to do.